Pretoria - United States (US) President Barack Obama says his government has committed $63 billion to fight public health challenges in Africa, including polio and tropical diseases.
Delivering a speech in the Ghanaian Parliament on Saturday, President Obama stressed the importance of democracy and governance in the African continent.
The US president is in Accra for a two-day visit which started on Friday.
In his speech, the 44th president of the US hailed Ghana for its democratic institutions, saying the west African nation is a model for other African countries across the continent.
President Obama said the African continent needs strong and democratic institutions, adding that development of the continent depends on good governance.
He said the African leaders must battle corruption and strengthen democracy and it was up to Africans themselves to decide their future in the world.
President Obama also promised that the US will help the African countries in fighting HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The speech is the fourth major one made this year by President Obama on the US foreign policies following the first one in Prague on 5 April, the second one in Cairo on 4 June and third one in Moscow on 7 July.
On Friday, President Obama was given a hero's welcome as he arrived at the Kotoka International Airport with his wife Michelle Obama and two daughters Malia and Sasha.
Moments later, a brimming President Obama accompanied by his wife and two daughters and a 50-member delegation came out of the aircraft to euphoric cheers.
There were moving scenes at the airport as Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills and his wife Naadu approached to receive the US first family.
The US first family, full of smiles, was introduced to the welcoming party which included politicians from all parties including Nana Akufo-Addo, the former president of the west African nation and also a candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 presidential elections.
The Ghana News Agency reported that the festive atmosphere was enhanced by a dancing troupe from the National Dance Company whose coordinator, George Lamptey, said they were performing heraldic dances meant to welcome the august visitor and his family and make them feel at home.
President Obama savored the moment by taking a few steps to the "frontonfron" beat and encouraged his wife, who was then walking with Mills, to join in dancing to the beat.
A large crowd of youth wearing President's Obama T-shirts defied intermittent showers as they lined parts of the street to the airport to welcome the US President.
There was heavy security presence and roads leading to the airport were sealed off yet this did not dampen the enthusiasm of people who came out as the motorcade made its way out of the airport.
Muhammad Mumuni, Ghanaian Foreign Minister, said President Obama lived up to the government's expectation as an inspirer.
He said the US president's whole demeanor at the welcoming ceremony was exhilarating and he lived up to the billing as an inspirer.
Speaking in the same vein, Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said everything went well, describing it as spotless.
President Obama's itinerary started on Saturday, with a special welcoming ceremony at the Castle, where he would hold closed-door bilateral talks with President Mills.
He was then hosted to a big breakfast for about 300 guests, including former presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor.
The President then paid a brief visit to the La General Hospital briefly in Accra, before moving to the Accra International Conference Center (AICC), where the Parliament convened to hear his formal address.
